Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/29

 Hsiâo Kăng, in 1 Section," with a note by the editor that it was compiled by Tâ Tâi. This little tractate may, or may not, have been also included in one of the 13 Sections. There are entries also about Tâ Tâi's work in the catalogues of the Thang and Sung dynasties, which have given rise to many discussions. Some of the Sung scholars even regarded it as a 14th King. In the large collection of "Books of Han and Wei," a portion of the Lî of Tâ Tâi is still current, 39 Books in 10 Sections, including the fragment of the Hsiâ dynasty, of which a version, along with the text, was published in 1882 by Professor Douglas of King's College, under the title of "The Calendar of the Hsiâ Dynasty." I have gone over all the portion in the Han and Wei Collection, and must pronounce it very inferior to the compilation of the Hsiâo or Lesser Tâi. This inferiority, and not the bulk, merely, was the reason why from the first it has been comparatively little attended to.

1. The Chinese character Lî admits of a great variety of terms in translating a work where it abounds into any of our western languages. In order fully to apprehend its significance, we must try to get hold of the fundamental ideas which it was intended to convey.

And these are two. First, when we consult the Shwo Wan, the oldest Chinese dictionary, we find Lî defined as "a step or act; that whereby we serve spiritual beings and obtain happiness." The character was to the author, Hsü Shăn, an ideagram of religious import; and we can see that he rightly interpreted the intention of its maker or makers. It consists of two elements, separately called khih and lî. That on the left is the symbol,